It is true.
Some people are slow to decide and slow to act.
Some groups are so afraid of making a mistake, they miss opportunity after opportunity to make a difference.
Some churches are so bogged down in committees they rarely take action.
There are some people, however, who seem to act impulsively with little thought.
Some people are impulsive with their words. They say what they think and appear to have no filter. Feelings are hurt and damage is done.
Some people are impulsive with money. They spend first and think about their purchases later.
Some people are impulsive in their ministries. In a sermon, a preacher suddenly makes a few unplanned, ill-timed remarks. Is the Spirit prompting this? Perhaps. Yet, sometimes these remarks may be the product of impulsiveness.
Some churches are impulsive. They have no real process for anything. Consequently, the leaders frustrate the members of their congregations.
1. A team of ministers and a group of elders discussed making a change that would impact the church. They decided to sell their present building and move to another location. They discussed this among themselves for months. Then one Sunday, they made an announcement regarding their decision to make this change. There was tremendous push back which actually baffled the leadership group. They could not figure out why people in the congregation seem agitated. Yet, there was absolutely no process.
2. One Sunday, a minister preaches a particularly difficult sermon. He has been thinking about a particular passage and subject for the last two years. He has reached a few conclusions about the interpretation of one particular Scripture that is quite different from what many in his congregation have heard before. He preaches this sermon and later seems surprised at the questions being raised by a number of people who are deeply involved in the life of the church. The reaction was not what he expected. His response? “I thought people here would be more open to God’s Word.” Yet, he has been thinking about this subject for two years. Those who heard the sermon had 25 minutes to process his thoughts.
3. A group of church leaders decide to make some major changes to the congregation’s Sunday school. This decision was made after the leadership team talked about the matter in a few elders’ meetings. Yet, there was no real process involved. The decision will impact teachers, Sunday school supervisors, children, visitors, and others. Yet no one bothered to talk with other these people before it was announced.
Some people and some churches are anything but impulsive. They can be paralyzed with indecision, frustrating their families and their congregations. Yet, some individuals and some leadership groups are much too quick to send someone to a microphone to make an announcement before doing the necessary hard work to process a possible decision.
Impulsive individuals and impulsive churches can move quickly. Yet, long after the action is taken, they must now spend an enormous amount of time and energy cleaning up.
Neither indecision or impulsivity get an individual, group, or church very far down the road. There are no shortcuts. Determining the best process for a decision and then following through may actually get one down the road more quickly.